That is amazing. I took that picture within two weeks of arriving in Vietnam. What are the chances that someone would recognize his own outfit in a stranger's photo that was taken by chance? I was there to interview 199th LIB GIs at Redcatcher Forward, or "Fish Net", and we just wandered out to the road when you guys came past. I'm not sure how serious you are about the PTSD but even I, who was not in a combat roll, was at a demonstration at Rockefeller Center a few months after returning and got brought up short by what sounded like an "Arclight" strike in the distance. I turned around and some idiot was sitting up on a mailbox and drumming his fingers on it rhythmically.

So what if it is just passing through. Think about the jobs it will provide. Not only that, think about the oil that we do import... we can and will tap into the pipeline at a lower import price. And who do you think will be doing the exporting. Our ports. Money... Money... Money...!
.[/quote]

Oil costs the same no matter who you buy it from and in any case we don't import oil anymore, except from Canada and Mexico. We are on the way to becoming one of the world's major energy exporters which is driving the price of oil down daily. The Canadians just want to get their oil to the Gulf where it can be loaded on tankers. We just want to give them a route to do it. So once the pipeline is built where are the jobs?

Saigon Sep 1968 to Jun 1969 US Army draftee. Went over with a Fuji fixed lens camera I bought in Willoughby's in NYC in 1962 and a Minolta Autocord TLR that I bought from a photographer at Ft. Gordon. When I got there I worked as a broadcast specialist and the photographer in our Info Office was instrumental in my buying a Minolta SRT-101. I took many slides before it was stolen off my desk at the MACV Annex. Bought another one - they were $125 at the PX with a Rokkor 50mm 1.4 lens. That camera came home with me and was later stolen. I lent the Autocord to an Army photographer who managed to drop it. That camera was never the same after that.

Some of my Saigon photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+BrianWickham/albums/5764499413433690865

My "How I Won The War" page, with the Capital Military Assistance Command.
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bwickham/

Fat chance, Mike! I think I'll keep them. But I do have a hankering for that K-5. If at any point I feel I would like to move to an APS-C camera I would probably go with Pentax rather than Nikon or Canon. Of course, if they do ever offer a FF model I might jump on it.

I have been using mostly the auto focus lenses for my m4/3 system consequently I have generally ignored the magnification feature. Thanks for the reminder, I'll have to practice with that.

Good information! I was unaware that this could be done. Thanks for the tip.

This issue has been in the back of my mind through this whole exchange. I do find that using my auto focus lenses with my m4/3 equipment is really a joy. So I am a bit ambivalent about spending money for a Pentax body just to try out a couple of legacy lenses. Thanks for your input.

I have read reviews that newer Pentax models have improved auto focus. Since for my purposes auto focus is not a primary issue I didn't need anyone recommending a particular model because it has improved auto focus. That's all.

I can't give an in-depth analysis of why I prefer a Mac as it has been more than six years since I had a PC. I can tell you that all my fears of changing over melted away when I did switch. All my files were readable. The big plus was how much sense the Mac made in comparison to the Windows system. It is, flat out, a more intelligent and simpler way of setting up an operating system. Also, I have yet to run into the problems I had with PCs regarding crashes or failed equipment. Maybe I'm pushing it by going six plus years and maybe I really should go for the new Mac but at the moment nothing is compelling me to do so.

An afterthought: If my Olympus bodies acquire focus confirmation for manual lenses in the future, via a software update, then my need for a Pentax K body diminishes, although I would like to try them on a larger sensor camera. A Pentax full frame might change the whole situation.

Has anyone heard of focus confirmation for the Olympus E-M5 in the future? There was some speculation that Oly's deal with Sony might bring it in a future update.

I have a couple of SMC Lenses, one of them the 28mm f2 made by Zeiss, that I picked up at a charity thrift store. I've used the 28mm on my Olympus m4/3 but would like to pick up a used Pentax K mount DSLR. Taking into account that some models do not auto-focus well, an unneeded feature, my question is which model might be best? I do need a focus confirm indicator and would prefer the largest sensor I can get. Obviously I'm not looking to spend much as I don't have plans to switch over to the Pentax system. Any suggestions? Maybe Samsung?

Burkphoto seems to me to be the kind of person I would look to for advise. I was a PC user from 1989 because all of the people I worked with (at a TV Network) had PCs, and frankly, I had the opportunity to share software. This seemed to work well through three PCs, a Zenith, a Gateway, and a Dell. But then I started to realize I was having the same problems over and over with each PC and each new version of Windows. After retiring, and having multiple problems with my Dell, I decided to finally try a Mac. I have had the same Mac for more than 6 years and it is due for a replacement, but not because it is giving me heartburn. I still love it, but I think I need something faster and I am due for an upgrade in storage capacity. Also, when I think of my past history with PCs I get antsy and worry that the whole thing will fall apart like the "One Horse Shay." It was fun learning about computers those first years with a PC but I will never go back.

We need to see the unit patch on the right sleeve. The one on the left is First Army which is a Stateside unit. You wear your combat zone unit patch on the right sleeve when you transfer to another unit. That will tell us if the owner of this jacket served in Vietnam.

A good policy. I have had DVDs go bad but I have had two hard drives go bad also, and they were the boot drives. That problem went away when I stopped using PCs and Windows. The files were recoverable but it was a trip through computer hell.

It's always a learning process. My first really good camera was a Minolta SRT-101 which I bought in the PX in Saigon. Luckily I worked with a photographer who helped me through, and over time explained the relationships of f stop to shutter speed to film ASA. Before that I was clueless. Actually I had a Minolta Autocord twin lens which I had bought second-hand just before leaving for overseas. The SRT was invaluable in determining exposure settings which I could transfer to the Autocord. That's how I learned exposure!

Now I have an Olympus E-3, E-P1, E-PL1, ZX-2, Lumix DMC L1, GF-1, and a Canon S100. I guess I have said goodbye to film.